Timeless
by Jayne Dough
Summary: Hermione is accidentally cast back into the Marauders era. She has the opportunity to do alot of good, or alot of harm. Thanks to a nonstandard pairing, she's more likely to cause more damage than she expected! [FS]
1. Chapter 1

Hermione awoke feeling extremely ill. Something within her wasn't sitting right, a rippling under her skin that just wouldn't cease, a distinct feeling of liquidity though remaining quite solid.

She noticed the blood straight away, and tried a healing spell which didn't work. She wasn't worried and put it down to falling on her wand; she tore off a piece of her shirt and used it to ebb the blood flow for a while. She had fallen on glass.

It was now night time, the moon was shining on the patch of cold stone where she had lay. She yawned, and though feeling slightly ill attempted to stagger back to the common room. She appeared before the familiar portrait of The Fat Lady, though she looked slightly different somehow. Less creases in the parchment? Brighter colours? She couldn't place a finger on the minute change, whatever it was.

'Aurelius' Hermione sighed, stepping forward to be greeted by nothing but the smell of oil paint too close to her nose. The portrait had not swung forward.

'Nice try. Now clear off' The Fat Lady said, unsympathetically.

'Oh of course it's after midnight, the password's changed. Can you tell me what it is please?' Hermione pleaded, looking slightly bedraggled from her previous condition.

'Nope – You should have been here after the Halloween feast, where all of the Gryffindors found out.' The Fat Lady grinned self-satisfactorily.

'I've been hurt, See?' She held up her bleeding hand that dripped slowly onto the stone.

'I'm sure you have, but I just can't let you in! It's the principle of it!' She sighed. Hermione echoed an exasperated noise down the corridor. A small Gryffindor she hadn't recalled ever seeing, though her round face looked vaguely familiar, rounded the corner at the foot of the corridor; she walked over a few minutes later, and smiled kindly at her.

'Fancy not lettin' 'er in you!' She chastised to The Fat Lady. 'Haweh petal, let's get you in. You forget the password too? Happens to Frank all the time. Shan't worry about it' She beamed.

'Cassiopeia' She said clearly into the portrait as it swung open. 'Not too hard for you to remember is it love? Frank has terrible trouble with 'em, it's all these fancy names for 'em y'see? He could probably remember it if it were summat like Pamphlet, or Cream, but it's all these constellations, and old wizarding terms, he hasn't got a clue bless 'im!' She smiled again removing her hand from Hermione's shoulder. 'You can take it from 'ere I suppose petal?' She grinned, not realising Hermione hadn't said a word. Hermione merely nodded and dragged herself upstairs to her dorm. She steadied herself for a moment, an overwhelming nausea swimming through her bloodstream, and whispered the password to the open door. It stood defiantly, glaring her in the face. She had set the Password herself so it hadn't changed in her absence, unless Ginny was playing a cruel trick.

'Ginny, open up' She sighed. 'Come on! I'm freezing' Hermione sighed. Ginny had done this before, as a joke, but ended up falling asleep and leaving Hermione out in the cold corridor. Not feeling like she had the patience to stay out there all night, she started banging on the door.

'Hang on, hang on' A voice muttered from the inside and the portrait swung open, though it wasn't Ginny standing there; it was Lily Evans...

Hermione's eyes blurred open, and she could see nothing but coloured shapes, the distinct peach oval of a face loomed over hers.

' 'Scuse me? Are you alright? You've given me quite a shock!' A tender feminine voice soothed, into Hermione's ear. Hermione sat up and rubbed at her temples, there was another face there, but she had no time to take it in, as nausea crept in. She couldn't remember why she'd fainted but something inside her felt very, very, wrong. When her eyes adjusted to her setting she could see why; red hair, and eyes as green as summer grass, it was Harry's mother.

'Something's wrong' Hermione managed to blurt out, as though she was actually vomiting the words and not speaking them. 'You shouldn't...I shouldn't be here...When is it?' Hermione continued, urgency flooding her, as Lily placed a comforting hand on Hermione's shoulder.

'It's one in the morning' Lily said quietly, clearly baffled by what on earth was going on.

'Not what time is it! When is it? Time, day, month, year?' Hermione urged her, clinging to her sleeve.

'It's one in the morning of November the first, nineteen-seventy-five' Lily spoke clearly, but not patronisingly, and firmed her grip slightly on Hermione's shoulder as she said it. As the words formed in her mouth she somehow knew that it was bad news for the lost looking young-woman in front of her. Hermione's eyes merely widened in shock, she recognised the face of Albus Dumbledore behind Lily's head, smoking a pipe in the chair of the Head Girl's dormitory. Lily whipped her head round and gave a cautionary glance at Dumbledore; She mouthed 'Something's wrong'. Hermione stood up like a bullet and flung herself at Dumbledore in the chair, and ensnared him into an impromptu hug.

'You're alive!' She exclaimed, though to a perfectly healthy Dumbledore, Lily began to wonder why he ever wouldn't be – She supposed Dumbledore was as old as the castle itself, though she knew he couldn't be. Hermione quickly collected her thoughts and thought better of continuing her behaviour and stopped.

'Miss Granger, I hope you don't see it as unreasonable that you accompany me to my office for questioning, and a spot of tea?' He smiled in a gentle non-threatening way. 'I do believe myself to be an excellent judge of character, and I am aware of the fact that an imposter at Hogwarts is a very serious situation. But there is something inexplicably rare about you Miss Granger, and I don't conceive it to be dark in the slightest' He smiled, the corners of his beard stretching with the grin.

'How do you know my name?' Hermione stuttered.

'Ah, well observed Miss Granger. You see, I've always toyed with the idea of having students embroider their name's into the sleeves of their robes. It gets a might confusing when one is trying to pick out one's own robes from a pile of hundreds of other identical robes. For some reason I haven't put it into effect, though I thought I should check anyway' He smiled.

'But you have!' Hermione smiled. 'It's been school policy since nineteen-seventy-five' she concluded.

'And that is why your name is there' Dumbledore nodded.

Lily was looking slightly aghast at the information before her, there was something inherently wrong about the girl's behaviour, and to Dumbledore's reaction to her. Lily's head was swimming.

'We should go now Hermione, I believe I will have much to ask you' Dumbledore said with a grave nod, standing from his chair, and starting for the door.

'Thanks Lily' Hermione smiled and gave a wave on the way out.

Lily's stomach did a somersault; She hadn't introduced herself by name.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N. Only the last paragraph of this chapter is of any real relevance to the story, so if you wish to skip ahead you can. Also the first few paragraphs ascertain how Hermione has come to be in the Marauders' time period, and how Dumbledore has (Rather astutely if I might add) concluded this for himself.

Since it is of no real relevance, you may have wondered why I have merely recapped some information in this chapter, and nothing much more substantial. This is because I believe this is what would have happened next, following logically from the first chapter. I believe it offers insight into both Hermione's and Dumbledore's characters in this story. And lastly I believe it was a necessary step to recap some of these events in some detail, not merely myself as an omniscient narrator explaining to anyone reading, that Hermione has told Dumbledore X, Y and Z. I feel it flows better this way.

Anyway thank you for taking the time to read this story and reviews are a nice bit of fuel to keep me going. J.D

Hermione was seated in a large brown armchair by the fire in Dumbledore's office. Hermione could tell that Dumbledore had conjured this chair himself, as Harry had told her of the legendary comfort. He had clearly decided not to interrogate her over his desk, but over a cup of hot cocoa and a warm fire; it was clearly a discomforting time for Hermione.

'Now, Miss Granger. Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe you are a student at Hogwarts' She nodded. 'You are also Head Girl, and a seventh year student in Gryffindor House.' She nodded again. 'You are also a highly intelligent and brilliant witch are you not?' Hermione turned read and shook her head. 'I believe that to be true, Hermione. I think it is your modesty that is telling me otherwise' He smiled and slurped a long drink of cocoa. 'All this does not take a genius to deduce, as I have thus far ascertained these "facts" from nothing but your wardrobe' He smiled. 'I deduced that you are above average, because you are wearing the remnants of a time-turner around your neck. Which presuming I am still headmaster in your time, would mean I would have to trust you enough to authorise your use of it; which is something I would not do for just any student' He said rather quietly, studiously watching the look of worry etched on Hermione's face as she fingered the last remnants of copper and glass that hung around her neck. 'Which then leads me to believe that you are in fact Head Girl, An exceptionally bright seventh year Gryffindor, and most importantly a student here at my school, however you are merely lost in time' He concluded gravely.

'How do I get back professor?' She blurted, her verbal sickness rising within her throat again, tasting every bit as fowl as the real thing.

'Hermione, do forgive me for being a curious old man. But I do believe that you know a lot of information that is both valuable to me personally, and to our efforts against a certain dark wizard' He left the last part of the sentence open for Hermione's own interpretation.

'Voldemort' She nodded.

'Very admirable of you to say his name.' He noted, ponderously. 'I am aware that changing the past is an incredibly risky business, but there may be some subtle changes you could make that save many lives. You have a knowledge far greater than anyone alive in this time, and I hope you'll beg my pardon if I seek to know a number of these things' She smiled politely, he took this as a positive sign. 'There is no real way to send you back to your own time right now.' He said gravely 'Which is why I hoped you'd agree to lend me some information until there is an opportune moment in which to send you back. Gaining a time-turner is extremely difficult, especially for sending a witch or wizard back to their respective time' Hermione nodded again, being fully aware that she hadn't responded verbally for a long time. 'If the ministry finds out that there is a time-traveller here who shouldn't be here, they will take you as a time-prisoner, and lock you away to stop you from changing the future, or worse, they have the power to execute a time-prisoner if they believe them to be of great disturbance to this era' He sighed. Hermione nodded yet again 'Thus you understand that I cannot merely write to the Ministry requesting a time-turner, as there are grave consequences. Also the process is heavily bewitched to stop any individual from claiming a time-turner under false pretences. Thus I would be found out straight away. I do believe it is not impossible to break into the Department of Mysteries to claim one in more underhanded circumstances, but I feel we should wait a while, such a large rupture in time will not have gone unnoticed by the ministry, in either of our time periods...Now,' He paused for air. 'To guarantee you're really not an imposter, I would like you to tell me all you can about events you know to have happened from this year until your year, which I do believe is somewhere around the late nineties' He sighed.

'How did you know that?' She questioned again.

'You referred to Lily by name so I am assuming you know her, or know of her in your time. Also judging by the fact it is very rare for time-turner anomalies to occur more than twenty years into the past or future, I presume she is one of your friends mothers, and that you are roughly eighteen years of age' He grinned.

'You are exceptionally good at that professor!' She smiled, then her face changed, and swirled around in an awkward state.

'Lily is dead in my time, sir. As are James Potter and Sirius Black.' Hermione stared gravely. 'As are you' She sighed. He nodded in a sombre fashion.

'I thought as much; Screaming 'You're alive' at someone and giving them a hug is not usually a sign of behaviour reserved for everyday salutation. I digress, I'm sorry. Do continue' He smiled.

'I was born, er, I'm yet to be born on the nineteenth of September nineteen-seventy-nine. I was born from muggle parentage so you will not know my parents. Though you will know a number of my friend's parents: Lily and James Potter bare a child named Harry, he is born on the thirty-first of July, nineteen-eighty. Which is important, so please take note.' Dumbledore nodded. 'Frank and Alice Longbottom give birth to a son named Neville at roughly the same time. I regret not knowing his actual birth date, however it's important!' She smiled, and Dumbledore revelled in the information. 'Cybil Trelawney makes an accurate, albeit rare' She muttered 'prophecy that declares that a child born at the end of July that year will be the chosen one, and he alone can stop Voldemort. Though the prophecy is given to you directly, Severus Snape overhears and tells Voldemort, who must decide which boy is the chosen one within the prophecy. He picks Lily and James' Son, and sets out to kill him whilst he is still a child. The Potters residence at Godric's Hollow is believed to be guarded by a secret keeper; Sirius Black. However to add another element of secrecy the couple change their secret keeper to Peter Pettigrew, who's weak strength of character ultimately costs them their lives. James is killed on the spot at his house, however Voldemort gives Lily the chance to live if she will surrender her child. She refuses and he kills her, though her sacrifice leaves Harry immune to the killing curse; He survives and the curse backfires onto Voldemort. He doesn't know it at the time, but he has inadvertently marked Harry as his equal, ensuring he is the boy referred to in the prophecy' She paused to let Dumbledore process the lengthy chunk of information he has just received. He motioned for her to continue.

'In my first year of Hogwarts, Professor Quirrel aids Voldemort back to power. Voldemort has been living a half life for ten years in an Albanian forest. He tricks Quirrel into helping him, into helping him steal the Philosophers stone.' She smiled as Dumbledore thought about his friend Flamel. 'At this time it is being held in your vault at Gringotts bank, however to be safe you entrust Rubeus Hagrid to retrieve the stone and place it under a series of wards of logic, skill, and knowledge...Oh and a three headed dog called fluffy' Dumbledore let out a gleeful laugh. 'Quirrel attempts to distract the castle by setting a mountain troll loose in the castle and it inadvertently goes for the girls toilets where I am, however Harry and Ron Weasley rescue me, and we defeat the troll' She pauses to take a sip from her rapidly cooling cocoa.

'My my, defeating a troll at the age of twelve. I wasn't wrong about you being gifted' He smiled.

'We initially thought it was Snape but we were wrong. Eventually Quirrel, possessed by Voldemort who had been drinking unicorns blood from the forbidden forest, came into the castle and tried to steal the Philosopher's stone. However your ward proved the trickiest, as you used the mirror of Erised to prevent anyone who didn't desire to use to stone for good from attaining it. We beat all the wards and then Harry went on alone, and came out triumphant with the stone.' She smiled.

They continued to chat until nearly eleven AM the next morning. Hermione had brought him up to speed with everything she possibly could, including his own death, to which his response was merely a mild chuckle. He had since switched the cocoa for coffee and as Hermione was well into her fourth cup Dumbledore excused himself. He arrived minutes later with Lily. Hermione smiled, but the averted her eyes.

'Hermione, due to your rare circumstances that I have informed Lily about, albeit not completely, I am acquiring Lily to be your secret keeper. She can't tell anyone about your status, and as long as Lily is your secret keeper you can't tell anybody. I will still remember, and have stored all of your valuable information in my pensieve for now.' He smiled and Lily was still eyeing Hermione with a great deal of awe. 'You're permitted to tell Miss Evans anything you would like to, though I have entrusted you with her for a reason. Given your links with her in the future, I could have easily chosen Sirius or James, but they are annoying in nature, and I doubt Lily will ask too many questions because she understands the gravity of the situation.' Dumbledore nodded. 'Hermione I do caution that you tread lightly. Though we could easily prevent a tragic death, we could also prevent a birth of great importance, and I am considering at the moment which is worse...' And with a polite smile, Lily and Hermione had exited Dumbledore's office.


	3. Chapter 3

There was a tense pause in the corridor outside of Dumbledore's office. Hermione was used to the aching, the moaning, the whispering of the castle, but now it just seemed silent. She was aware of a presence watching her, and turned to look at Lily. In stature Lily was only slightly smaller than Hermione, and her red hair was much darker than any of the Weasley's hair she had seen. She recognised the eyes of course, they were similar to Harry's. Not identical, as she had been lead to believe, Lily's had more of a spark to them, they were brighter, more effeminate. She hadn't realised she was still staring at Lily, and quickly turned away. Lily continued to furrow her brow in Hermione's general direction, until she eventually snapped.

'What?' Hermione said, rather more abruptly than she had cared to let her voice stray in the past.

'Nothing' Lily said in a rather cheeky tone of voice.

'You've been staring at me like I've got the plague since we left the room. Really, what?' Hermione said, she would rather have this conversation sooner rather than later, and couldn't put her finger on what exactly Dumbledore has explained to Lily.

'You know when I'm going to die don't you?' She grinned, and kicked a little bit of stone with her foot, which made a quiet swoosh sound, and left a small grey patch of dirt on her shoe. Hermione said nothing as they continued to walk. 'You do don't you. I knew when you said my name, you can't have met me in the future, unless I'm one of your friend's mums, and that's not going to happen' She said, making a slightly amusing disgusted face; halfway between sticking her tongue out and a grimace.

'Why not?' Hermione said quietly.

'Don't like boys' Was the only reply she got, in a quiet and disenchanted manner.

'Yes, I know how you die.' Hermione said. 'Well, I don't know for certain any more, because me just being here at the same time as you could have set events in motion that led to the avoidance of your death.' She sighed. 'By just being here, four years before I'm born, I could set things in motion and just be unborn. Disappear like that!' she said, clicking her fingers for effect.

'If Dumbledore isn't trying to get you straight back to your time period, you can't possibly be in that much danger' Lily rationalised.

'Yeah, I agree' Hermione nodded, and the silence returned.

'So is it good?' Lily asked, stuffing her hands in he pockets forcefully, and continuing their slow amble.

'Is what good?' Hermione said, her brows arching in interrogation.

'My death.' She smiled politely.

'You're very morbid Lily' Hermione noted, and cocked her head slightly. 'Define good' She smirked.

'Is it a kind of no-guts-no-glory fight with Voldemort? or maybe a little bit of an sleeping-surrounded-by-friends-and-family, situation?' She pondered, staring into the dust falling in the cracks of sunlight.

'It's a little bit distressing, but it was brave and admirable and you saved someone's life...And if it helps I don't think it hurt' She said quietly. Lily swallowed hard, until this moment she had just been toying with the idea of her own mortality but now it seemed real, it could be seconds away.

'When?' She gulped.

'Now!' Hermione yelled and fell to the floor, Lily clutched at her chest in visible shock. Hermione fell on her back laughing.

'Hermione, that wasn't very funny' But a grin cracked across her face, as she pretended to kick Hermione in the ribs. She extended a hand to help her up which Hermione took, and let her grasp linger there for a little bit longer than needed. 'Dumbledore should have left you with that awful James Potter, if you're going to play tricks like that' She smiled.

'Do you really hate James that much?' She said, eyes flooded with worry.

'No, course not. He gets annoying. He keeps saying he fancies me, but I think it's just Sirius putting him up to it for a laugh, because I'm the only girl in their group' She smiled.

'I know how that can feel' Hermione sighed.

'You all alone with the boys too at your end?' Lily proposed with all the sense of 'at your end' meaning a different school, not an entirely different tangent universe in which she was dead.

'I was, but I have quite a good friend in Ginny, she's one of my friend's younger sisters' She smiled. 'Only a year younger, but you could never tell, she acts older than they do most of the time. Then again that's not hard...'

'They're boys!' Lily concluded. 'At least I have you for a little while. It'll stop me going _completely_ insane...Maybe' She smiled and punched Hermione's arm in jest.

'Who's your best friend then?' Hermione asked quietly, she really wasn't sure of the outcome of this question.

'Probably James. Or Sirius, or Remus...Not too fussed on Peter though. I don't like him. I think he's a bit shifty to be honest, but James insists I should trust him...' Lily went on, as Hermione's stomach constricted with foreshadowing. 'I like them all otherwise. Remus is more someone I'd share conversations about books with, Sirius being someone I'd go to for entertainment, There's never a dull moment with him around! And James, we chat about everything actually, everything meaning pejoratively nothing!, a broad spectrum, but not in too much depth, but he's like a brother. I could spend hours with him, conversation is never laboured with him, y'know? She smiled. Hermione gave a smile back, there was something about the ease of Lily she liked, how easy it was for her to accept her own death, to accept Hermione's arrival, how easy it was for Hermione just to talk to her.

'Do you fancy him?' Hermione, thought this was a reasonable question, but when she was met with nothing but raucous laughter from Lily she maybe asked an obvious question.

'Of course not! I love him to bits and everything, and I don't know what I'd do without him and the guys around, but fancy that smarmy git!? You must be mad, I think he's secretly got his eye on the prefect in the year below anyhow. And I always quite fancied that Harriet that's on the quidditch team with James. She got off with me at the party when we won the house cup.' She grinned, and showed Hermione a cheeky glimmer in her eye. Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. 'Shit, sorry. Do you not agree with that kind of thing? I could just not mention it if you like, I don't mention it often anyway...' Lily was mumbling, and backtracking horrifically. Hermione raised her hand to stop her talking, and Lily trailed off.

'It's fine honest' Hermione smiled, 'But something's not right, could you just wait here, while I pop back and see Dumbledore?' She smiled and Lily nodded rapidly, fiddling with her hands. Hermione was off like a shot down the corridor to Dumbledore's office. She arrived in the office panting, her face flushed and fine bits of hair around her face, wet with perspiration.

'Whatever is the matter Miss Granger?' Dumbledore inquired, seemingly unphased by her disruptive entrance.

'Lily likes girls, and James likes someone else? I'm worried, how on earth do they get together?' Hermione blurted out.

'I too thought it to be quite rare that you said that the saviour of the wizarding world was born to such unlikely parents, especially as I have seen Mr Potter in shall we say, uncompromising positions, with Sirius Black'


End file.
